Carton



March 11, 1969 J ROBERT GALLOWAY AL CARTON Filed Sept. 27, 1967 fINVENTOR. u ROBE/QT GALLOW/IY Afra wsrs United States Patent 2 ClaimsABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A carton which is formed from a single blankof sheet material and which is of a design such that the blanks can beprogressively cut from a continuous length of material, with no waste.The carton has a number of side walls which join together to form thecarton, at least one of which is formed with two side wall sections,each of which is triangular-shaped and forms one-half of the side wall.Each of the side walls, with the exception of the side wall formed bythe two side wall sections, has an end flap affixed to each of itsopposite ends. The two side wall sections each has only one end flapafiixed to its one end. These end flaps are overlapped and aflixedtogether to maintain the carton erect, thereby eliminating the need forthe normally required manufacturers glue seam.

This invention relates, generally, to cartons and, in particular, tocartons which are applicable for use as shipping cases for articles suchas canned goods and the like.

The carton industry is a relatively large industry, as evidenced by thelarge number of goods which are packaged and shipped within cartons. Italso is a highly competitive industry even though most cartons generallyare of the same material, either paperboard, corrugated board and thelike, and generally are of a similar construction and design.Accordingly, the only way in which a manufacturer can obtain anadvantage over his competitors is to reduce the amount of materialneeded to form a carton or to reduce the time and/or labor required toform, erect, fill and seal a carton. If less complex and/or costlyapparatus is required to form the carton or to fill it, an advantagealso can be obtained. (In many cases, a reduction of as little as 5 topercent in the material required to form a carton will provide aneconomic edge. In the case of a single carton, this may not amount to agreat deal of material, however, when this small amount is saved on eachof the multitude of cartons manufactured and sold, a substantial savingsin the costof the material is realized. For the same reasons, areduction of a few seconds in the time to form, erect, fill and seal acarton provides a substantial economic savings, when these seconds savedare tallied. The carton industry therefore is constantly designing anddeveloping new cartons, in an attempt to provide cartons having these aswell as other features so as to establish anadvantage in themarketplace.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide improvedcartons for shipping and/or storing articles such as canned goods andthe like.

Another object is to provide improved cartons which can be formed from asingle blank of sheet material.

Still another object is to provide improved cartons of the latter typewhich can be cut from a substantially continuous length of material withno waste.

A still further object is to provide improved cartons of the above typewhich can be easily and quickly formed, with automatic carton formingand erecting apparatus.

A still further object is to provide improved cartons of the above typehaving a design whereby a substantial reduction in the material requiredis provided.

Another object is to provide a carton of the above type which eliminatesthe manufacturers glue seam which normally is required.

Still another object is to provide improved cartons of the above typewhich can be shipped knocked-down and thereafter easily and quicklyformed, erected, filled and sealed, with automatic carton forming andfilling apparatus, or by hand.

Still another object is to provide improved cartons of the above typewhich require a minimum amount of material, and yet retain all theadvantages of the presently available similar cartons that use morematerial.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in partappear hereinafter.

The above objectives are accomplished with a carton which is formed froma single blank of sheet material and which is of a design such that theblanks can be progressively cut from a continuous length of material,with no waste. The carton has a number of side walls which join togetherto form the carton, at least one of which is formed with two side wallsections each of which is triangulanshaped and forms one-half of theside wall. Each of the side walls, with the exception of the side wallformed by the two side wall sections, has an end flap affixed to each ofits opposite ends. The two side wall sections each has only one end flapamxed to its one end. These end flaps are overlapped and afiixedtogether to maintain the carton erect, thereby eliminating the need forthe normally required manufacturers glue seam.

The invention accordingly comprises an article of manufacture possessingthe features, properties, and the relation of elements which will beexemplified in the article hereinafter described, and the scope of theinvention will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention,reference should be had to the following detailed description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a carton blank, and further illustratingthe manner in which it is out from a continuous length of material;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the carton blank partially folded;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the carton blank illustrating the samesubstantially completely folded so as to form a carton; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a carton erected from the carton blankof FIG. 1.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout theseveral views of the drawings.

Referring now to the drawing, a shipping case or carton 10 preferably ofcorrugated board is illustrated having side walls 12-15 and end flaps16-19 and 20-23 at each of the two opposite ends thereof. The carton 10can be rectangular-shaped, as illustrated, or it can be square-shaped.The side Wall 12 of the carton 10 is formed by a pair of side wallsections 12a and 12b, each of which is triangulanshaped and formsone-half of the side wall 12. The side wall sections 12a and 1211 areintegrally affixed to the side walls 13 and 15, respectively, and thetapered edges 24 and 26 thereof abut together when the carton 10 isformed so as to form a line that extends diagonally across the carton,between two of its corners, as can be best seen in FIG. 4. The end flaps16-19 and 20-23 each'is of a width corresponding to the width of theside wall to which it is integrally affixed and preferably has a lengthwhich is equal to one-half the cross-section of the carton 10 so thatwhen folded in overlapping relationship the ends of the carton 10 arecompletely sealed. If desired, the end flaps can have a length equal tothe cross-section of the carton so that each end flap completelyoverlaps the end of the carton.

The cartons 10 are formed from carton blanks 28 like that shown in FIG.1, which carton blanks can be easily and quickly progressively cut froma continuous length of material 30, with no waste. It may be noted thatthe width of the length of material 30 is selected to correspond to theoverall length of the side walls 1215 and the end flaps 1619 and 20-23afiixed to the opposite ends thereof. More specifically, the width ofthe length of material 30 corresponds to, for example, the length of theside wall 13 and the two end flaps 17 and 2t] integrally afiixed to it.Accordingly, no waste results along the upper and lower edges (asillustrated) of the blank 28 when it is cut from the length of material30. Also, the tapered edge 32 and the two vertically-disposed edges 33and 34, formed on the end of the length of material 30 when a blank 28is cut from it, correspond to and form the tapered edge 24 and the twovertically disposed edges 36 and 37 on the next blank 28 which is cut sothat there is no waste along the cutting edge between the blank 28 andthe length of material 30. In other words, the blanks 28 dovetailtogether perfectly so that there is no waste at all when they are cutfrom the length of material 30.

Simultaneously with the cutting of a blank 28 from the length ofmaterial 30, or thereafter, horizontallydisposed, parallel score lines40 and 42, and verticallydisposed, parallel score lines 43 16 and cutlines 47-52 which constitute extensions of the score lines 4346 areformed on the face of the carton blank 28. These score lines and cutlines divide the carton blank 28 so as to form the side walls 12-15 andend flaps 16-23 of the carton 10. Other size and shaped cartons areformed merely by proportionately forming the blank 28, in theabove-described manner, so as to form side walls and end flaps of thedesired size.

The cartons 10 are shipped and/or stored in the form of the cartonblanks 28 so that a large number thereof can be conveniently packagedatop one another in a stack. In other words, the cartons 10 are shippedand/r stored knocked-down.

The cartons are formed and erected, either by hand or with automaticcarton forming and erecting apparatus, in generally the followingmanner. It will be apparent, however, that one or more of the describedsteps can be performed at a different stage of the forming operation, asdescribed. The end flaps 17 and 20 are first folded, along therespective score lines 40 and 42, so that they extend upwardlysubstantially perpendicular to the plane of the side Wall 13.Simultaneously, the end flaps 19 and 22 are folded upwardlysubstantially perpendicular to the side wall 15. Thereafter, the sidewalls 13 and are folded upwardly, along the respective score lines 44and 45, substantially perpendicular to the plane of the side wall 14. Anadhesive next is applied to the end flaps 18 and 21, and the end flaps18 and 21 are folded, along the score lines 40 and 42, respectively, andaffixed atop the end flaps 17, 19, and 22, in overlapping relationshiptherewith.

At this point, the carton 10 is sufiiciently formed so that it can befilled with the articles such as canned goods which are to be packagedtherein. This also can be accomplished with automatic filling apparatus,in a convenient and speedy manner so that little time is required toperform the filling operation.

Thereafter, the same or additional apparatus applies adhesive to the endflaps 16 and 23, and folds them, along the respective score lines 40 and42, so that they extend substantially perpendicular to the side wallsections 12a and 12b to which they are integrally afiixed. The side wallsections 12a and 12b then are folded along score lines 43 and 46,respectively, so as to close the 4 carton 10, and the end flaps 16 and23 afiixed atop the end flaps 17, 19, 20 and 22, in overlappingrelationship.

The carton 10, unlike most cartons, as explained more fully below, ismaintained in the erected position by means of the end flaps 16, 18, 21and 23 which are adhesively affixed to the end flaps 17, 19, 20 and 22.The end flaps 16, 18, 21 and 23, also provide strength to the carton sothat it is not easily damaged or torn apart.

The tapered edges 24 and 26 of the side wall sections 12a and 12b areabutted together when the carton 10 is formed and are sufficiently tightso as to prevent dirt, dust and the like from entering the carton. Insome cases, it may be desirable, however, to place an adhesive strip ofmaterial over the mating tapered edges 24 and 26 so as to provide asubstantially dust-proof carton.

It is significant to note that the carton 10 is formed and held erectwithout the need of a glue flap or an auxiliary sealing strip as in thecase of most presently available cartons. In the case of the former, asubstantial savings in material is provided by eliminating the glueflap. With the elimination of cutting waste and the normally used glueflap, the carton 10 provides an overall savings in material ofapproximately 30 to 40 percent in comparison to presently availablecartons of a like size manufactured in accordance with presenttechniques. In the case of the latter, a substantial economic savings isprovided by eliminating both the need for the auxiliary sealing stripand the time and the apparatus to apply it.

It can therefore be seen from the above description of the carton 10that it can be easily cut and formed. Furthermore, the carton 10 has adesign such that a substantial savings in material, in comparison tosimilar available cartons, can be realized since it can be cut from alength of material with no waste and the normally used glue flap orauxiliary sealing strip is eliminated. The carton 10 also is shippedand/or stored knocked-down so that all the advantages attributable tothis feature is likewise provided. The carton 10 furthermore can beformed, erected, filled and sealed with automatic carton forming andfilling apparatus so that these operations can be quickly and easilyperformed. Apparatus of this type is disclosed in an application to befiled at a subsequent date.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those madeapparent from the preceding description, are efficiently attained and,since certain changes may be made in the above article without departingfrom the scope of the invention, it is intended that all mattercontained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawingsshall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended tocover all of the generic and specific features of the invention hereindescribed, and all statements of the scope of the invention, which, as amatter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Now that the invention has been described, what is claimed as new anddesired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A carton formed from a single blank of sheet material which is cutand scored so as to provide a plurality of adjacent side walls joinedalong vertical score lines, a triangular-shaped side wall section joinedto the outermost ones of said side walls along vertical score lines,said triangular-shaped side wall sections having complementary taperingmating edges which extend diagonally across the entire length thereofand which form one half of a side wall of said carton, respectively, afoldable end flap at one end of each of said side triangular-shaped wallsections and at each of the two ends of each of said side walls joinedthereto along a horizontal score line, a vertical cut separatingadjacent end flaps, said side walls and said triangular-shaped side wallsections being folded along said vertical score lines to form saidcarton, said end flaps on two of said side walls at one end thereofbeing 5 6 folded inwardly and said end flaps on one of said tri-References Cited angular-shaped side wall sections and on saidoppositely UNITED STATES PATENTS disposed side Wall being foldedthereover in overlapping relationship and affixed thereto, said endflaps on the op- 1,359,708 11/1920 Jone? 229-37 posite end of said sidewalls and said triangular-shaped 5 2,367,717 1/1945 Dayldson 229 37 sidewall section being folded in overlapping relationship 3,209,981 10/1965Thlele 229-48 and affixed together in a like manner, said end flapsmainmining said carton erect. DAVID M. BOCKENEK, Primary Examiner.

2. The carton of claim 1, wherein said end flaps each U 5 C1 X R have alength substantially equal to at least one-half the 10 cross-section ofsaid carton.

